


to hell and back

by kuro49



Category: The Unit
Genre: Drabble, M/M, episode tag: s04e08 into hell 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 00:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6216664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro49/pseuds/kuro49
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They are not shielding one another but if this is another way of protecting one from another, well, they have already bled far too much for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	to hell and back

**Author's Note:**

> based on [flip's best find ever in the behind the scenes](http://flippingthevan.tumblr.com/post/140530946919)!!! :D :D :D

In the break room back on base, cold beers in their hands, Charles Grey might bump shoulders with Bob Brown before laughing at how he went to the _newbie_ out of anyone else on the team (he won’t). Then the rest of the guys will probably chuckle something low and rough in return before calling it a day (they won’t).

They are used to leaning on one another.

It is part of the job. It is a part of this unit as tight knit as they are.

What they are not used to is actively seeking out one another.

Charles has a hard time looking to Mack and how he throws a punch that makes the Colonel’s face crunch. The breaking of bones, of cartilage, is a sound that resonates very differently than any other sound. He has to wonder how Top can stand there without flinching. (Maybe that is why Jonas leads Alpha team. Maybe that is why Charles doesn’t.) He finally turns away when he has a hard time drawing in a steady breath.

It shouldn’t be instincts. Not for them when their fingers close around the throat and the trigger of their guns without hesitation. It is though when Bob curls an arm around his neck to draw Charles closer.

His shirt smells like the sewer they crawled through and the hell they have been through. The fabric is stained with sweat and dirt and spots of blood but it might be the most comforting thing when Charles digs his fingers into it.

They are no strangers to violence, or brutality.

A gun is loud, it is quick. A knife is silent, but it goes in quick.

A fistfight is anything but.

Charles holds on. There is a mantra in his head: You sign up for the unit, you sign on for life. You sign up, you don’t betray your own men like _this_. Charles isn’t looking but he can bodily feel it when Bob too tips his head away from the blood being shed. They are not shielding one another but if this is another way of protecting one from another, well, they have already bled far too much for each other.

Yet here they are, making the other bleed.

The kiss Bob drops over the top of his head doesn’t feel at all like an afterthought. This, Charles figures will be a detail left out in their retells if it ever comes up (it won’t), but it is still the most reassuring thing.

 


End file.
